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by Rev. Fred D. Acord
T he gears ground as the driver shifted down to a lower gear, lhe huge bus, loaded with a mass of humanity plus suitcases, trunks, blan kets, food parcels and live chickens, slowly crept up the tortuous hair-pin curves of the escarpment leading to Asmara, the former capital of Eritrea. The bus which had left Massawa on the Red Sea Coast sweltering in 120° heat, was making its way past the scrubby lowlands where wandering Bedouins.herded their goats and cam els, past the thorn bushes which pro vided for the tough-lined mouths of the camels, and slowly, ever so slow ly? UP the road toward the blue mountains in the distance. An Eritrean policeman with his large felt hat cocked at a jaunty an gle and with rifle clasped between his knees,_ sat in the front seat while his counterpart sat in the rear seat by the door. In this land of the shifta (high wayman), police ride escort on the buses and trains as in the days of the Old West in the U.S.A. when a guard road “ shotgun” on the stagecoaches. The bus’s bugle-like horn trumpet ed out over the desert wastes, scatter ing goats, camels, donkeys and peo-
ple who were meandering at will down the middle of the road. At times the bus stopped at groups of low mud buildings or thatched huts to take on and discharge passengers. We wondered how another person could ever manage to squirm into that overcrowded vehicle. However, every one squeezed in a bit closer and room was made for the new passenger. Then the driver, with a blast on his horn, “ gunned” the big diesel mo tor. Fumes came swirling into the bus, and became a contributing factor, along with the sharp bends, to a num ber of passengers becoming violently car sick! Having passed through the low lands, the bus started climbing, ne cessitating much changing of gears on the steep bends because of the over-load. The distance as the crow flies from the Red Sea port of Mas sawa to Asmara is about 50 miles and so the road, starting at sea level and climbing to 8000 feet in so short a distance, is steep. It was built like a giant goat trail up the side of the mountain with a series of sharp hair pin turns in order that the slow-mov ing, heavily-laden buses and trucks
might pull up the steep grade. As the bus wound its way up the hill, the air turned cool and soon coats and sweaters began to appear. It was a welcome change from the blistering heat of Massawa. After a while I looked with interest at my travelling companions which included a number of Arabs with their white jalabiycts and turbans, some with black pencil-like beards. A number of Coptic priests were on board, with their capes over their shoul ders, their high-rounded hats pro truding above the mass of heads, and their crosses which they carried along with a horse-tail fly switch. Some of these disembarked at the town of Nefasit which lies at the foot of a towering mountain. On top of this mountain is a mon astery reputed to have been built about the time Columbus discovered America. I climbed it one year dur ing one of their feast days. Half-way up, there is a large wooden cross be side the path, and from this point on ward, no female is allowed to go, whether she be human or animal! Christianity encased on a hill top! Perhaps this is the reason Islam be-
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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